Hello all. I have a question for a friend who would like to let out a gîte to English visitors advertising on Internet and wants to know if a contract has to be provided or not. I have used Gîtes de France myself for bookings and was sent a contract by post but I didn't have one when booking a property by internet last year. Any advice,
I also send out a booking form and separate T&C's - the booking form has to be signed and states that the T&C's have been read and agreed to.
We have always used a written contract which we require to be signed and returned with the deposit.
Dates and times of arrival / departure, statements that the pool is used at owners risk, owners liability limitation, smoking, dogs, how and when (and why) a deposit will be returned, if it is all set out in an agreement then there can be no cause for confusion.
In fact it is an advertising portal, I think, like owners direct or homelidays. Are there any standard booking forms or terms and conditions that can be downloaded from the internet or anything obligatory that should be included?
For direct bookings i email a pdf booking form to be posted back
Companies like these have a contract with the house owner… If they are only an advertising portal you are getting in touch with the owner for reservations…
by internet/email or by post?
We send out a booking form with a separate terms and conditions which we asked to be signed. From a property insurance point of view a contract of some sort should be provided.
Yes I did tick a box but that was for the company's terms and conditions but what about with the actual owner of the property, because a lot of these sites are not responsible for the actual booking, they just show the properties available.
Yes its normal to have a contract.
With companies with whom you book over the internet you might have just ticked a box to say you agreed to their terms and conditions and therefore avoided the paperwork…
W